"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

how do you have a hi-res version of that album?? Is it ripped from vinyl or something?? I would love to hear their stuff in hi-res...their albums sound pretty great, but I'm starting to realize that they don't sound amazing like some other recording I have now (vinyl/hi-res).

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

No, as far as I know Rega doesn't recommend the use of a record clamp. I've never really felt the need; the way the RP3 sounds with the TTPSU and the white belt and Exact2 is so darned good I don't want to mess with anything. What I found to make a further difference was isolation control. I use Herbie's Audio Lab Tall Tenderfeet under the RP3 and it sits on a PS Audio PowerBase. Took the sound quality up a notch for sure.

I listened to this last night - I've not listened to this CD in years...pretty much burned myself out on it in the early 90's. I've heard it literally hundreds if not thousands of times...but was hearing all sorts of new details now that I have the MG944, Modified Zen-A, and Oppo 105!

Also gave a spin to the Dylan album Lon posted...I'm not a Dylan fan, but enjoyed some of the rougher cuts that weren't smoothed over. Reminded me of playing guitar around a campfire.

I'm not a fan of Neil Young - but I listened to the Wolf People mentioned previously (great album!) which warmed me up for Neil - which I'm listening to while repairing PCs (my side job) to help pay for my Mystery Amp!

I play this too periodically... but it only sounds good during the intros of the songs, before they really get into it. When they do, you can hear the distortion. And I can see the Peak Meters in foobar2000 pegged. Then I play something else.

on the Old-topic. I was at a bar listening to a friends cover band. they played old Ratt, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl jam. I loved every song. My girlfriend didn't know any of them. most everyone in the bar was young and didn't know or seem to like the songs. I realized, I was old. went from fun guy with beer to sad old man with beer.

I confess that I had a crush on Flora in the second half of the 'Seventies. I love these albums she did for Milestone. Playing this one now, Sounds so so good tonight, the system is firing on all cylinders.

Came home from work (out of town) to find the fiance had left the Zen amp on since the day before...I explained to her it's not bad, just uses a lot of electricity sitting idle for 24-48 hours. She smiled and said, "I warmed it up for you!" LOL

So I notice on the counter, a small package from Herbie's - my halos showed up! I got one of the RX and two of the new (expensive) titanium ones for the pre and power tubes respectively per a recommendation he made to another Zen user. Popped them on the tubes then spun this:

Followed by This:

Followed by This:

Needless to say, I think the tube dampers did something really good, and I didn't get much sleep last night as I sat there for another hour or two just flipping through FLAC files I happened to have on the USB Flash Drive inserted into the Oppo. I'm going to have to spend some time doing a proper A/B, but I'm pretty sure this falls into the WOW catagory.

Yes, those tube dampers are special and I'm glad you got to try them out. I bet you'll be keeping them!

I haven't tried the Titanium. Maybe one day.

These were good enough that I think I'm going to pick some up for my guitar amps, and a few for a friend who also has an SE84-A (un-modified) . I have a couple Magnatone combo amps I'm restoring. One is a '58 Magnatone 280 like Buddy Holly's that was caught in a basement flood - and the other is a '62 260A I pulled from someone's trash that looks like it was used by a punk band. ::) Herbie's web page says the dampers are really good with Combo amps, and I'd love to hear what it does with these two old guys.

Cool. The one amp I use now (with five others stacked up no longer being used*) is a Bassman TV Fifteen. This is a powerful amp with a 12AX7 in the preamp stage and a Class D amp driving a fifteen inch speaker, and the old "tweed" control set up.

This amp just has the mojo for all my guitars and basses and it brings out the special nature of each instrument. I can't really get at the tube easily and I don't want to mess with anything because this amp has the sound I've wanted for decades. Really surprised me too as I've always loved all tube amps and this one is a hybrid, but it really surprises me every time I play--it has all the tube nature and it just sings. A Halo might help but. . . I'm leaving well enough alone.

* Okay that's not entirely true. I also have a Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight SE plugged in that sees occasional use upstairs in the bedroom. I used to use an amp in the bedroom often, but now that I spend most of the time at my parents, I don't. This is an all solid state amp that surprises me by having a nice clean warm sound. Mine is a prototype that does not have the second (distortion) channel nor does it have the built in effects, just one squeaky clean channel. Haven't used this that much but really like it when I do, it is great for my Jazzmaster guitar and my warmest Strats (a Warmoth built Korina body with Wenge neck, and a Fender American Deluxe Mahagany Strat).

And my Fender '59 Bassman LTD Reissue amp blew a fuse that I haven't gone into and replaced yet, and when I do I'll probably set it up. . . somewhere. Sigh. Wish I had more room and more time.

Yeah, I have the *pile of guitar amps* I don't play much from my heavy metal days. LOL I almost picked up one of those Bassman TV Fifteens once. But the circuit looked so simplistic I figured I'd just clone it. I have a Tweed Champ I built from scratch using 100+ year old wood and gave to my Dad, and a Blackface Champ I saw someone gutted and selling the parts on eBay - I bought as much of it as I could win and started reassembling back into an amp! ::)

Anywho, we could guitar chat in our own thread, the tube dampers got me off track, sorry guys.

So I'm playing this right now, and it honestly sounds terrible. I must have a bad CD pressing, or maybe just hearing the limitations of the original recordings. But seriously, yuck. :-[

Just popped this in after S&G Greatest Hits - I've not listened to this album since the '80s - I got a vinyl rip from a friend. Sounds OK - but I have an ear-to-ear grin remembering how fun/silly this movie and enjoyable the soundtrack is. *This* is what all movie soundtracks should be like!

Well, I don't build well enough to clone one of these amps, and when I have built something in the distant past I always wondered "does it really sound the same?" So I bought this one. I love it. I might eventually pick up another in the series but they're hard to find these days. . . may go for a Dual Ten.

A friend of mine used to have a tweed Champ. Nice guitar but I prefer larger amps.

Lon, sometimes our taste in music is so similar it's scary. The Paul Desmond LPs you've listed recently are all in an RCA box set of Paul Desmond with Jim Hall that I listened to a few months back. I'm also an Ella Addict...the list goes on forever. This morning as I read on the computer I've listened to the below concert from the group E.S.T. that I find more amazing each time I listen to them. Unfortunately the pianist died several years ago. Enjoy, Mark.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare

Listening to discs from the Bill Evans Complete Riverside Recording box set. Just love this music. Listened to two discs before heading over to my parents, and will try to listen to a few more (as many as they can stand). It's been too long since I had a big Bill Evans kick, it's overdue.

Lon, I'm a huge Bill Evans fan. I've got all the boxes and pretty much everything else. The reissued 3 CD remasters of the Village Vanguard recordings lived in my car for over two years...I never could bring myself to take them out. But last night I listened to the first CD of this Mosaic Records Box set.... Verve/Philips Dizzy Gillespie Small Group Sessions. Very tasty. And yes Lon, I too am a Mosaic Records junkie. Mark.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted." William Shakespeare